


As Golden As the Sun

by mandalorian



Series: As Golden As the Sun [2]
Category: Heaven Official´s Blessing, 天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tiān Guān Cì Fú - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Genre: Gen, He Xuan is scary, M/M, Mu Qing staring at people, No real pairing just musings about BeefLeaf, and getting scared as the result, no matter the skin, that´s even scarier than the fishboi, this is me writing for the first time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:07:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25991854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandalorian/pseuds/mandalorian
Summary: At the feast in honor of the Lord Earthmaster´s rescue Mu Qing muses on relationships and gets a glimpse of something he should hope to never see again.Edit: Edited slightly to fit better with the one sided Shi Wudu/Ming Yi established in "Salt from Our Eyes"
Series: As Golden As the Sun [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1886800
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	As Golden As the Sun

The celebration for the successful rescue of the Earthmaster is a raucous affair where the dishes are manifold and the wine flows freely, the Great Martial Hall packed with Gods of all domains and even some Middle Heaven Officials that managed to sneak themselves in with the crowd. Even now, hours into the feast the place is packed, with only a few but noticeable absences and Mu Qing deliberately doesn’t think about where his once upon a time Crown Prince might have sneaked off to, since there seems to be a pretty good chance that it´s not his dilapidated excuse of a shrine. He shakes his head lightly, sipping some more of the truly excellent wine Jun Wu has conjured up for the event. Not his problem anymore, though he suspects that Feng Xin´s early retirement might not be unrelated. And yet, also not his problem, very definitely not. Let them court death or Ghost King´s or both at the same time, he has his own things to do and at the moment getting drunk seems like a very good option.

Mu Qing let´s his eyes wander around the room, taking stock of who is sitting with whom. The Three Tumors with their heads together as usual, taking no notice of the celebration around them while scheming whatever thing they have going on at the moment. Not much surprise there really. And of course the Windmaster is sitting right next to the Earthmaster as always, talking loudly and happily, surrounded by a gaggle of Gods of all kinds while Ming Yi would be completely forgotten if not for Shi Qingxuan occasionally patting his arm or shoulder or sliding over more dishes for him to clear in that relentless, methodical way he has. It feels slightly wrong in some way to have him be so disregarded at a feast that is supposed to celebrate –him-…but next to glowing, exuberant Shi Qingxuan, most people would be hard to see.

He leans back a bit, idly playing with his wine cup while studying the god in question. Ming Yi really was easy to oversee wasn´t he? Always wearing dark colors with only a single golden earring as ornamentation, with none of the finery and jewelry most of the other gods preferred, always clinging to the shadows at the fringe of what was currently happening, never at the center of attention unless dragged there by the Windmaster. And even then he was barely noticeable, stagnant and still, like a pond crusted over by the first frost of winter, an unmovable center point to the Windmaster relentlessly circling around him in a flutter of silky gauzes and gentle breezes. 

Mu Qing drains his cup, vaguely gesturing in the general directions of the attendants for a refill while he watches the Earthmaster slowly and methodically eat his dishes, completely ignoring Shi Qingxuan excitedly gesturing next to him, probably retelling their daring escape from the horrible Ghost King´s lair again. The Windmaster and the Earthmaster surely were a peculiar pair, one overly excitable and sociable while the other one only spoke to deliver sharp, precise remarks worthy of any literature god to whoever managed to displease him and very clearly preferred solitude to any kind of company. And yet, they were barely seen apart to the point where, if you had business with the Earthmaster, you simply went and looked for the Windmaster and surely he´d be there, sulking somewhere in the background of whatever gathering was going on at the moment. 

There was a lot of gossip about the actual nature of this very peculiar relationship, with the majority of people voting for a romantic one even though nobody had ever seen them exchange any kind of obvious romantic gestures, arguing that they were keeping it on the low because of the very obvious interest the Lord Watermaster showed in the Lord Earthmaster, another favorite topic of gossip between the Officials. And while that was nothing but the truth –barely a day went by when there weren´t gifts send from the Watermaster´s Palace to the Earthmaster or when the God in question called upon the other man in person- Mu Qing was one of the few gods not in favor of this particular theory.

He simply could not see the kind of affection you´d expect between lovers between Shi Qingxuan and Ming Yi …especially not from Ming Yi. While he usually wasn´t outright pushing the Windmaster away, he tolerated most of Shi Qingxuan´s very generously applied affections with an air of barely contained disgust, like you would indulge an overly affectionate pet simply because it was easier to sit through their slobbering then to get them to stop. And Mu Qing might not have a lot of experience with romance and such but you´d expect more then barely concealed disgust from your lover, wouldn´t you?

No, Mu Qing really couldn´t see it, as appealing as they might be as a couple with their contrasting looks and personalities. In the end the Earthmaster´s personality was just too severe and abrasive to be able to imagine him as a lover to anybody really, not just the Windmaster. It would take someone very patient and very gentle to counteract the Earthmaster´s vitriol, someone who was willing and able to accommodate his sometimes mercurial moods and sharp tongue. Or someone who was just as mercurial and severe and would have no trouble paying him back in kind, Mu Qing mused, even if that kind of pair would be a scary one to behold indeed. 

He picked out a few choice morsels from the little snack plates the attendants had brought with his wine, munching on a few sunflower seeds and enjoying the soft buzz that had started to set in in the back of his head, idly letting his eyes wander over the black clad figure next to the Windmaster again, scrutinizing his appearance. Ming Yi –was- pretty, with his pale complexion, made paler even by his imprisonment and torture, his sharp, nearly fierce features and light brown eyes, every hair perfectly in place in his customary high ponytail and every fold of his dark robes pristine. Cold and severe and pretty…but compared to the golden glow and flowing, many colored garments of the other gods he looked unimpressive.

Like a smooth river pebble between diamonds, Mu Qing mused, beautiful in it´s own right but unremarkable by comparison. No wonder Jun Wu picked him to try and spy on that thrice damned Crimson Rain Sought Flower, without the Lord Windmaster orbiting him like a very persistent and oblivious fly it´s easy to forget he´s even there. He snickered lightly at the mental picture that particular idea produced…only to have the sound get stuck in his throat and die a merciless death when a pair of sharp, light brown eyes suddenly stares right into his own.

“Oh crap…”

Mu Qing swallows a curse managing to slightly raise his cup and conjure up a weak approximation of a smile as if he´d only meant to salute the Earthmaster in celebration of his escape from the start and hadn´t in fact just been caught staring at him for the last couple of minutes like a love struck fool. Ming Yi keeps their gazes locked for a few more nerve wracking seconds, unblinking and unsmiling and Mu Qing suddenly, unexplainably feels like prey being scrutinized by a predator, contemplating if he´s a threat or worth to be hunted, for fun or for meat, the hair on the back of his neck standing up and a sudden chill settling between his shoulder blades even though the great Martial Hall is as warm and balmy as always. Just like that one time they´d been lost in the woods during play as children and had been stalked for hours by something big and silent and deadly, all three of them bursting into terrified tears the moment their prince´s retainers had found them huddling underneath some tree roots, trying to make themselves as small and invisible as they could. And even now, hundreds of years afterwards, being a martial god and sitting in the safety of Jun Wu´s own private hall he can feel his throat closing up tight with relief when the Earthmaster finally blinks and turns back to his dishes, disregarding Mu Qing completely.

Mu Qing breathes one shaky, silent breath he doesn’t actually need and pretends his hand isn´t still shaking as he refills his cup and downs it in one swallow, very carefully not looking in the direction of the Windmaster and his entourage again. Cold and severe and pretty indeed, especially when the light in the hall makes those usually so drab and lifeless light brown eyes shine like gold…and hunger.

**Author's Note:**

> The line about the pebble got stuck in my head and didn´t want to go away until I wrote a thing, so here it is, for the first time ever ^^ I hope you liked it, it was fun to write at least...and I think a Mu Qing/He Xuan friendship would be great, can you imagine the sass? The Snark? The pure power of their combined stink eye of sarcasm?? I´d even ship them if I weren´t in HeHuaLian-rarepair hell but who knows^^


End file.
